Bl. Cesar de Bus

Feast Day:
Roman Rite Calendar - 04/15

Patron Of:
Catechists

Memorial 15 April Profile A middle child - the seventh of thirteen children. He devoted his youth to wild and frivolous living. One night while on his way to a masked ball, he passed a shrine where a small light was burning before an image of the Virgin Mary. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the memory that a friend, Antoinette Reveillade had prayed fervently for his salvation. He realized that there was no way he could live a life offending God, and then expect to be accepted in the end. There, on the road, he had a complete conversion.

Ordained in 1582. He was profoundly affected reading a biography of Saint Charles Borromeo, and tried to take him as a model in all things, especially his devotion to catechesis. Worked as a catechist in Aix-in-Provence, an area in turmoil following the Religious Wars. Saint Francis de Sales called him "a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis." He founded the Ursulines of Province and the Fathers of Christian Doctrine. The Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution, but an Italian branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil. Born 3 February 1544 in Cavillon, France Died Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, France; interred in the church of Saint Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy Beatified 27 April 1975 by Pope Paul VI Canonized pendingPatronage catechists